Regulator raps Ryanair, Virgin and others for being too slow on refunds – but says all UK airlines have now agreed to pay up

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has previously said it had identified airlines that were paying refunds too slowly or weren't giving cash refunds at all – warning earlier this month that only a minority of airlines were paying out within acceptable timeframes. 

But today is the first time it has named airlines that have performed unacceptably or acceptably. 

Its findings largely reflect the results of MSE's latest travel survey, which received over 77,000 responses and was submitted to the CAA with a call for it to take action – just yesterday MoneySavingExpert predicted that Ryanair and Virgin Altantic were likely to be named and shamed by the regulator based on the survey results.

However, the CAA says its intervention has led to improved service from most airlines and faster refund payments – with all UK airlines now paying refunds. The regulator also says that call centre waiting times have reduced and customer service messaging from airlines on customers' refund rights has been clearer. 

As a result, the CAA isn't taking any enforcement action at the moment, saying it gets quicker results for consumers through informal interventions. 

But it says it's still monitoring the situation and "will not hesitate" to take further action against airlines if needed.

For full help if your travel plans have been disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, see our Coronavirus Travel Rights guide. And see our latest MSE travel survey results for the 70 best and worst firms for refunds during the pandemic.

How did different airlines perform? 

The CAA's review has focused on 18 different airlines. This includes all the UK airlines, as well as a number of EU or international airlines which have large UK operations or had been identified as potentially having significant refund problems. 

It used its own investigations as well as information provided by consumers and consumer bodies to look into whether airlines were placing barriers in the way of customers requesting refunds through unclear messaging and difficult-to-navigate or understaffed customer services.

The CAA says it found only three airlines – American Airlines, Jet2 and United Airlines –were promptly paying out refunds and didn't have major backlogs. Jet2 was the highest-rated airline in our latest travel survey, with American Airlines placing fourth (United Airlines didn't receive enough responses to be ranked). 

And on the other end of the scale, it's named and shamed airlines such as Easyjet, Ryanair, Tui and Virgin Atlantic for not paying out refunds quickly enough – though it says all have made commitments to improve their payment times. Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic were the worst-rated major airlines in our survey. 

It also highlighted airlines such as Air Canada, Air Transat and Turkish Airlines which it initially identified as not paying refunds based on customer complaints – yet it says all airlines it contacted have now confirmed they are paying out cash refunds as they're required to. Again, Air Transat was the second worst-rated airline in our survey. 

You can see the CAA's comments on individual airlines' performances below:

The CAA says it will continue to monitor the performance of all airlines that were initially identified as not paying refunds or paying out too slowly. 

It's also written to another 30 European and international airlines that operate services to and from the UK to highlight the results of its review and warn them against denying customers refunds. These airlines weren't initially included in the review as they were already in discussions with national and European bodies. 

What are my refund rights when a flight's cancelled?

If your flight's cancelled, under EU flight delay rules (which still apply this year despite Brexit, and which cover all flights leaving the UK or EU as well as flights to the UK/EU on a UK/EU airline), you're entitled to choose between:

• A refund for the flight that was cancelled

• OR an alternative flight (airlines call this re-routing) to your destination

We've seen some airlines pushing customers towards getting a voucher instead, but you are absolutely entitled to a refund in this situation. The CAA has reiterated that while airlines can offer vouchers and rebookings if the consumer's happy with this, they must give passengers a cash refund if they ask for one.

Our Coronavirus Travel Rights guide has full help with enforcing your refund rights if your flight's cancelled.

What does the CAA say? 

CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty said: "The airlines we have reviewed have responded by significantly enhancing their performance, reducing their backlogs, and improving their processing speeds in the interests of consumers. 

"Although we have taken into account the serious operational challenges many airlines have faced, we have been clear that customers cannot be let down, and that airlines must pay refunds as soon as possible.

"There is still work to do. We have required commitments from airlines as they continue the job of paying customer refunds. Should any airline fall short of the commitments they have made, we will not hesitate to take any further action where required."

What do the airlines say?

A Ryanair spokesperson said: "Ryanair has already processed over €750 million in refunds and vouchers since mid-March, which is over 60% of Ryanair's total backlog of Covid cancellations in March, April, May and June.

"We expect to clear over 90% of the remaining backlog of refund requests by the end of July. However, thousands of customers are being blocked from receiving their refund due to unauthorised third-party screen scrapers providing Ryanair with fake email addresses or virtual credit card details that do not belong to customers.

"We call on the CAA to take action and introduce urgent regulation to ensure that these unauthorised intermediaries provide airlines with accurate customer details so we can process their refunds."

We've contacted Virgin Atlantic for comment, and will update this story when we hear back. When we originally published the results of our latest travel survey, a spokesperson told us: "As a direct result of the global travel restrictions, we have had to cancel a vast number of flights and continue to be inundated with enquiries, including refund requests. Our absolute focus remains on supporting all of our customers to amend, rebook or cancel plans.

"We would reassure all customers that if they've requested a refund for a cancelled trip, it will be repaid in full, and the work to process refunds is our priority."